Oct252013
Mortgage fire is realization of American Dream
According to Wikipedia: 
The American Dream is a national ethos of the United States, a set of ideals in which freedom includes the opportunity for prosperity and success, and an upward social mobility achieved through hard work. In the definition of the American Dream by James Truslow Adams in 1931, “life should be better and richer and fuller for everyone, with opportunity for each according to ability or achievement” regardless of social class or circumstances of birth.
The idea of the American Dream is rooted in the United States Declaration of Independence which proclaims that “all men are created equal” and that they are “endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable Rights” including “Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.
The American Dream became perverted during the housing bubble. Americans began to define themselves by the size of their house. Wealth became confused with debt. Appreciation became confused with income. Credit became confused with savings. Rather than viewing the road to prosperity as one that required hard work, Americans came to believe they could have success by simply purchasing the right house and living off the increase in its value. No work, experience, or expertise was required.
These perverted views of what it means to be American are so engrained in the collective consciousness of Californians, that few remember the real American Dream.
Work hard, save money, pay off a mortgage, and live in your debt-free house on the investment income from your savings in your golden years.
A few people still get it, and today I want to celebrate their victory.
Family achieves dream with mortgage fire
The Cortez family of Escondido are the first San Diego County family to pay off their Habitat for Humanity home
By Pam Kragen — 4:35 p.m.Oct. 21, 2013
Lori Holt Pfeiler, executive director of San Diego Habitat for Humanity, lights the mortgage papers paid off by Jose and Irma Cortez of Escondido, center, at the organization’s 25th anniversary picnic in Escondido on Oct. 19. Joining in the celebration were the Cortezes’ children Jose Jr., left, and Eber. — Jamie Scott Lytle / U-T
ESCONDIDO — With a whoosh of flame, a burst of confetti and a round of applause, Escondido homeowners Jose and Irma Cortez made good on a promise they made to each other, and to San Diego Habitat for Humanity, 17 years ago.
The Cortezes are the first family in San Diego County to pay off their zero-interest mortgage with the nonprofit housing charity. They celebrated their achievement Saturday afternoon with a ceremonial mortgage-burning at Habitat’s 25th anniversary picnic in Escondido. The Cortezes paid off their loan three years early, Jose said, because they wanted that money to be used by Habitat to help other needy families.
“Having our own home changed our lives,” he said. “It was like a miracle, a blessing from God. It gave our family the room we needed and the payments were low enough that we could give our children a much better future.”
When the Cortezes applied for the program in 1996, they were living in a two-bedroom, one-bath Escondido apartment with their five children and Jose’s mother, who took care of the kids while they both worked. They were perfect candidates for the Habitat program, which promotes itself by offering qualified homebuyers “a hand-up, not a handout.”
Some people may decry that this family was given such a break, but this was not a handout. Six low-income people living in a two-bedroom apartment are not likely going to save 3% or more for a down payment, and at San Diego prices, the chances of these people getting on the property ladder were low. Yes, there were given a great opportunity, but what’s more important is what they did with it. They obviously made the most of it. I admire that.
“We don’t give away homes. We make homes affordable for working families,” said Lori Holt Pfeiler, executive director of the San Diego affiliate of the faith-based Atlanta charity, whose volunteers have built and rehabbed more than 600,000 homes worldwide for needy clients.
Since its creation in 1988, the San Diego program has provided 187 homes to families who meet need, income and credit requirements and are willing to put in at least 500 volunteer hours.
There is no free lunch. These people have to work hard to get this chance.
Habitat builds homes for about $250,000 and sells them to clients for about $150,000 to $160,000, with the goal that mortgage payments make up no more than 30 percent of the mortgage-holder’s take-home pay.
“We just sold a home to an Escondido family with four kids ages 8 to 16. Both parents work … but their combined income is $56,000 a year. They could never afford a home with today’s home prices and interest rates, but they’re a stable hardworking family and they deserve a chance,” Pfeiler said.
Yes, they do. And I particularly like that this opportunity is coming from a private charity rather than some government program.
Cortez, who has worked locally in construction for more than 20 years, said his whole family pitched in with volunteers in 1996 to build their 4-bedroom, 2-bath home on Sixth Avenue in West Escondido.
Youngest son Jose Jr., a 21-year-old U.S. marine, said he was too young to remember carrying buckets and supplies around the construction site 17 years ago, but he watched with pride how his father and mother have transformed their modest home into a beautiful oasis over the years — even adding a backyard pool 10 years ago.
“It was just a bare lot when we started and it has changed so much. It’s amazing,” he said.
The Cortezes qualified for a 20-year mortgage with monthly payments of $436. Jose said the low payments allowed he and his wife to provide a good education for their children, who are now 21 to 34 years old.
And apparently, none of that required them to get a HELOC or refinance their home in a mortgage equity withdrawal Ponzi scheme. Not everyone given the chance at the American Dream uses such restraint or wisdom.
Daughter Eber Cortez, a 24-year-old nursing student who commutes from Escondido to West Coast University in Orange County, said the home has been a tremendous blessing for her whole family. An older brothers went to auto body school, her twin sister is in college and a younger brother attended police academy.
At the picnic on Saturday, a stream of volunteers and other mortgage-holders stood in line to congratulate and shake the hands of Jose and Irma, who beamed with pride and graciously greeted each well-wisher. (Another Habitat family has also recently paid off its mortgage, but they were unable to attend the picnic.)
Jose said that on the day they signed their mortgage papers years ago, he and Irma vowed that they would set aside savings each month in hopes of paying the loan off early. Three months ago, they realized it was finally possible while they were examining their mortgage statement.
I have the utmost respect for these people. They truly achieved the American Dream.
“That was an emotional day in the office,” said Gary Pekala, finance director for Habitat in San Diego. “When they came in to pay off the loan there were a lot of tears among the staff. The Cortezes were hugging everyone and very happy.” Irma Cortez said the day was so emotional for she and her husband that they drove home from the Habitat office in San Diego in utter silence with tears streaming down their cheeks.
“When they came home that day I knew something was up because my mom was crying,” Eber said. “I asked her what was wrong and she said ‘this is your home now.’ I admire them a lot. They went through so much to provide for us.”
This is their home now. Loanowners and everyone else playing the big-mortgage game feel like they own their homes, but they don’t. They own their loan. When that loan is paid off, then they really own their home, but not until then. People lose sight of this fact — at least until they quit paying and a lender comes to boot them out of their home.
Jose, who has been an active volunteer for Habitat on many other home-building projects, said holding the deed to his family home means much more to him than just an end to monthly payments.
“We put a lot of sweat into that house and there are a lot of memories there,” he said. “We will never sell that house. It will be in the family forever and I want my children to raise their children there.”
The Cortez family. Real American heroes.
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[idx-listing mlsnumber=”OC13210792″ showpricehistory=”true”]
73 SURFSIDE Ct Unit B Surfside, CA 90743
$1,485,000 …….. Asking Price
$965,000 ………. Purchase Price
8/21/2000 ………. Purchase Date
$520,000 ………. Gross Gain (Loss)
($118,800) ………… Commissions and Costs at 8%
============================================
$401,200 ………. Net Gain (Loss)
============================================
53.9% ………. Gross Percent Change
41.6% ………. Net Percent Change
3.3% ………… Annual Appreciation
Cost of Home Ownership
——————————————————————————
$1,485,000 …….. Asking Price
$297,000 ………… 20% Down Conventional
4.74% …………. Mortgage Interest Rate
30 ……………… Number of Years
$1,188,000 …….. Mortgage
$302,957 ………. Income Requirement
$6,190 ………… Monthly Mortgage Payment
$1,287 ………… Property Tax at 1.04%
$0 ………… Mello Roos & Special Taxes
$309 ………… Homeowners Insurance at 0.25%
$0 ………… Private Mortgage Insurance
$40 ………… Homeowners Association Fees
============================================
$7,826 ………. Monthly Cash Outlays
($1,820) ………. Tax Savings
($1,497) ………. Principal Amortization
$535 ………….. Opportunity Cost of Down Payment
$206 ………….. Maintenance and Replacement Reserves
============================================
$5,249 ………. Monthly Cost of Ownership
Cash Acquisition Demands
——————————————————————————
$16,350 ………… Furnishing and Move-In Costs at 1% + $1,500
$16,350 ………… Closing Costs at 1% + $1,500
$11,880 ………… Interest Points at 1%
$297,000 ………… Down Payment
============================================
$341,580 ………. Total Cash Costs
$80,400 ………. Emergency Cash Reserves
============================================
$421,980 ………. Total Savings Needed
[raw_html_snippet id=”property”]
The Luckiest Generation
One of the great American assumptions — that while individuals and families may rise and fall, each generation will end up on average better off than the one that preceded it — has been the subject of much scrutiny in the past decade. Democrats and their affiliated would-be wealth redistributors have argued that the large income gains enjoyed by the highest-paid workers threaten the American dream of ever-upward generational mobility, while others have worried that the housing meltdown and the Great Recession, which inflicted serious damage on the net worths of many American families, now stand in the way of that dream. Deficit hawks, including yours truly, have long worried that the entitlement system, with its unsustainable wealth transfers from the relatively poor young to the relatively wealthy old, would eventually leave one generation — probably mine — on the hook, having paid a lifetime’s worth of payroll taxes to support a system of retirement benefits likely to fall apart before we’ve recouped what everybody keeps dishonestly insisting is an investment. It’s fashionable to hate the Baby Boomers, who are numerous and entitlement-loving, for the problem, but in fact they may be the first generation to feel the sting of the reversal.
A new paper from the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, authored by William R. Emmons and Bryan J. Noeth of the Center for Household Financial Stability, finds that when it comes to lifetime wealth accumulation, it matters — quite a bit — which year you were born in, and that those born in the late 1930s through the 1940s not only did better than the generations that came before them but also are on track to do better than those born in the postwar era and after. “After controlling for a host of factors related to income and wealth, we find that cohorts born in the late 1930s and 1940s have experienced more favorable income and wealth trajectories over their life course than earlier or later-born cohorts. While it is too soon to know how cohorts born in recent decades will fare over their lifetimes, it appears that the median Baby Boomer (born in the 1950s and early 1960s) and median member of Generation X (born in the late 1960s and 1970s) are on track for lower income and wealth in older age than those born in the 1930s and 1940s, holding constant many factors other than when a person was born.”
DeMarco: No Mortgage Limit Declines Before Spring 2014
Federal officials will delay any reduction in the maximum size of home-mortgage loans eligible for backing by Fannie MaeFNMA -12.22% and Freddie MacFMCC -10.63% until next spring at the earliest amid heavy resistance from the real-estate industry and many lawmakers in Congress.
Currently, Fannie and Freddie can guarantee mortgages that have balances as high as $417,000 in most of the country and up to $625,500 in expensive housing markets, including parts of California and New York. Loans within the limits, called “conforming” loans, typically have carried slightly lower rates and easier qualification standards than so-called “jumbo” loans that exceed the limits.
The Federal Housing Finance Agency, which regulates Fannie and Freddie, had previously said it was considering plans to drop the limits as soon as Jan. 1, which triggered strong blowback from home builders, real-estate agents, and mortgage bankers.
Edward DeMarco, the agency’s acting director, said Thursday that the agency recognized a loan limit decline could add new operational burdens on mortgage lenders that are already facing a slew of new regulations set to take effect in January. “We needed more time,” Mr. DeMarco told reporters Thursday. “The industry had an awful lot going on on Jan. 1. The better course was to wait.”
Potential loan-limit changes will be announced six months ahead of their implementation date, he said, and such changes wouldn’t be announced until November at the earliest. “Anything we do would have a long lead time and would be gradual and measured,” said Mr. DeMarco.
So, no drop, but with the “mid-2014” talk, we’ve now added additional uncertainty to the housing market. Great…
Number of U.S. Mortgages Going Unpaid = 4,594,000
Lender Processing Services provided the media with a “first look” at the company’s mortgage performance statistics for the month of September.
The industry’s foreclosure inventory continued its downward trend, and while delinquencies were up slightly from the previous month, they were down when comparing the numbers year-over-year.
LPS counts a total of 3,266,000 mortgages nationwide that are 30 or more days past due but not yet in foreclosure. That tally represents 6.46 percent of all outstanding mortgages.
September’s delinquency rate is 4.23 percent higher than the rate reported for August, but remains 12.63 percentbelow September 2012’s rate. Of the more than 3 million delinquent loans, LPS says 1,331,000 have missed at least three payments but haven’t started the foreclosure process.
Another 1,328,000 mortgages are currently winding their way through foreclosure pipelines, according to LPS’ data. That total puts the nation’s pre-sale foreclosure inventory at 2.63 percent in September, down 1.29 percent from the month prior and down 32.18 percent from last year.
B of A has been selling off its servicing rights on delinquent loans. The decline in their portfolio is due to those sales not from a significant improvement in loan delinquencies
B of A to slash another 3,000 jobs
Bank of America (BAC) admits the number of delinquent loans it services has drastically declined to less than one-third of peak levels. The lender refused to confirm reports of 3,000 jobs pending within its legacy asset servicing group.
However, a statement from the bank suggests the mortgage segment, especially servicing, is still bleeding jobs.
“The number of delinquent mortgage loans we service has decreased to less than one-third of the peak levels. As we continue to resolve the needs of customers with delinquent loans, we are reducing the size of the operations that support these specialized programs,” a spokesperson with Bank of America said.
“Additionally, in line with the industry, we are realigning our cost structure in response to lower customer demand for mortgage refinancing. We are working with employees to identify opportunities both inside and outside the bank,” the bank said.
This is no surprise to the industry, with SunTrust (STI), Citigroup (C) and other top banks recently announcing layoffs in their mortgage divisions.
“Interest rates have gone up and therefore refinancing has come down, so you do not need as many people. At the same time, foreclosures are going down so you do not need as many people to handle it,” noted Dick Bove, vice president at Rafferty Capital Markets.
But this leads to one underlying question, Bove said. Why should they make mortgages?
“Bank of America just lost a case in which they made mortgages. JPMorgan Chase (JPM) is supposedly going to pay $13 billion over mortgage issues, and 6 states have announced their intention to sue nine banks over mortgages. And of course Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are going after every bank in the country,” he added.
Bove believes government interference has made mortgages unprofitable, and at a certain point, lenders really need to think if this is a business segment they want to invest in.
How they going to afford bigger mortgages?
Most Americans accumulating debt faster than they’re saving for retirement
A majority of Americans with 401(k)-type savings accounts are accumulating debt faster than they are setting aside money for retirement, further undermining the nation’s troubled system for old-age saving, a new report has found.
Three in five workers with defined contribution accounts are “debt savers,” according to the report released Thursday, meaning their increasing mortgages, credit card balances and installment loans are outpacing the amount of money they are able to save for retirement
The imbalance is expanding even as policymakers are encouraging people to set aside more by offering generous tax breaks and automatically enrolling workers in retirement accounts that in some cases automatically escalate the amount of money over time.
Currently, workers with retirement savings accounts put aside more than 11 percent of their pay for retirement — 5 percent in their own accounts, and 6.2 percent in Social Security.
Despite that — and despite the $2.5 trillion the report says employers have poured into defined contribution accounts from 1992 to 2012 — the retirement readiness of most Americans has been slipping, according to the report by HelloWallet, a D.C. firm that offers technology-based financial advice to workers and conducts research of economic behavior.
This will bring buyers back to the market, assuming they have a job.
Mortgage rates fall to four-month lows
Fixed mortgage rates spiraled down this week amid market speculation that the Federal Reserve will continue to commit to its bond buying purchases this year.
Consequently, mortgage rates declined to four-month lows as the industry deals with weak jobs numbers and the aftermath of the government shutdown.
The 30-year, fixed-rate mortgage came in at 4.13%, down from 4.28% last week, but up from 3.41% last year, Freddie Mac said in its Primary Mortgage Market Survey.
“Mortgage rates slid this week as the partial government shutdown led to market speculation that the Federal Reserve will not alter its bond purchases this year,” said Freddie Mac vice president and chief economist Frank Nothaft.
He added, “The weak employment report for September added to this expectation. The economy added just 148,000 jobs, which was below the market consensus forecast and less than the 193,000 jobs increase in August.”
Wishful Thinking Dominates Housing Market Outlook
Mortgage rates are inching higher and higher, but the market does not seem to be paying any heed as it continues to show signs of improvement, according to the HousingPulse Tracking Survey released Wednesday by Campbell Surveys and Inside Mortgage Finance.
Home sales were down somewhat in September, but other indicators—such as distressed sales, time on market, sales-to-list-price ratio, and purchase offers—remained positive, according to the survey.
“The emerging slowdown in home purchases appears to be largely seasonal,” said Thomas Popik, research director for
the HousingPulse survey. “September is yet another month where higher mortgage rates have had only a moderate effect on the housing market.”
HousingPulse also tracks distressed property sales, finding the share of home purchases involving REOs and short sales decreased to 24.6 percent over the three-month period ending in September, marking a four-year low.
Time on market also fell to a four-year low last month, according to HousingPulse. Homes spent an average of 8.6 weeks on the market, based on the September data gathered. Notably, this is down from the spring homebuying season when time on market was about 10 weeks.
Homes are not only selling quickly, but they are also selling for a high percentage of their list price, according to HousingPulse. The sales-to-list-price ratio in September was 97.5 percent, up from 96.1 percent in September 2012.
The average number of purchase offers on non-distressed properties was 2.2 over the three months ending in September, down just slightly from a four-year high of 2.3 reached in early summer.
I always thought “The Comedian’s” version of the American Dream rang true:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xkCscoOquk8
Sen. Paul threatens to hold Yellen nomination: Source
Sen. Rand Paul is threatening to put a hold on the nomination of Janet Yellen to chair the Federal Reserve, a source close to the Kentucky Republican said on Friday.
Paul is insisting on a vote on his Fed transparency bill, and has informed Senate leadership of his intentions, the source said.
A Senate Democratic aide told CNBC this morning that the ability of Paul to single-handedly block the nomination “should not be overstated.” Paul would need 40 other senators to join him to cut off a motion to end debate and bring the nomination to the floor. Although hearings have not yet been scheduled, the aide said the leadership at this point is confident the nomination will succeed.
Paul intends to formally put the hold in place next week, once the Senate is back in session, the source added.
The senator’s bill would mandate a complete audit of the Federal Reserve.
According to his website, his bill is a version of legislation advocated by his father, the former Texas congressman and presidential candidate Ron Paul.
Why would anyone have objections to an audit?
Everyone with something to hide has objections to an audit.
Ah, the American Dream. Meanwhile, the billionaire investor funds buying up thousands of properties are having a great time being slumlords…
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/10/25/wall-street-landlords_n_4151345.html
Considering that we’ve just entered a new era where the rights of debtors and tenants now supersede those of creditors and landlords, the great times currently being had by slumlords will be short lived. The rush to the exit door is going to be epic.
While not precisely on topic with respect to today’s post I found this article interesting. Maybe being the biggest landlord in America is not easy or inexpensive.
Here’s What Happens When Wall Street Builds A Rental Empire
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/10/25/wall-street-landlords_n_4151345.html
Thanks for posting. I appreciate your contribution.
Without your own local crew or local subs, it hard to be an absentee landlord who give has good rentals. It’s just too expensive to maintain in good shape and have timely maintenance at an affordable price/rents.
they will get eaten alive by vacancy and expenses
Housing is now just speculation.
Home Buyers Take a High Risk for a Low Interest Rate
One of the cheapest—and most popular—ways to finance a mansion is also the riskiest. But some borrowers just can’t say no to a 2.5% interest rate.
These are adjustable-rate mortgages with very short fixed-rate periods that last just one year and then change annually based on market conditions. Popular during the housing boom, these so-called 1/1 ARMs helped push borrowers into foreclosure. Their risks remain the same since then: When rates rise, 1/1 borrowers are likely to feel the impact before borrowers with longer-term fixed rates.
But borrowers are undeterred. During the first eight months of the year, 75%, or 5,656, of private jumbo ARMs that were originated for home purchases had a fixed rate period of just one year, according to data compiled for The Wall Street Journal by Lender Processing Services, LPS +1.47% a mortgage data-tracking firm.
Homeowners are also refinancing with 1/1 ARMs. In August, 96% of the private-investor jumbo ARMs were for a 1/1, up from 84% in January, according to LPS.
Experts say some of these borrowers are betting that interest rates won’t rise much in the near future, especially if the economic recovery doesn’t pick up. “They’ve heard that rates will rise so many times that they’ve become dull to it—it’s like crying wolf. If it ever happens we’ll deal with it,” says Jack McCabe, a housing analyst in Deerfield Beach, Fla., who provides research reports to investors buying these mortgages. (These loans were mostly sold to issuers of private securities with some also going to private investors.)
I wonder how many in Irvine are using these types of products. Last cycle we had liar loans and exploding option ARM’s. It’s time to start coming up with descriptive names for the loan products of this cycle. Maybe these can be poseur loans.
I would volunteer at a builder’s sales office in the Great Park just to see the income/assets of people reserving/buying $1m homes. I really want to know who these people are.
“poseur loans”
LOL! I love it.
Buffett says household formation and lack of new supply will continue to fuel the housing market. He doesn’t list banking manipulation as a major factor.
http://www.housingwire.com/articles/27642-buffet-housing-market-has-a-ways-to-go
Buffett doesn’t list ANY reasons for limited supply in his comments. What’s your point??
My point is that he doesn’t believe in the banking conspiracy theory as a reason for limited supply.
http://articles.latimes.com/2012/feb/27/business/la-fi-mo-buffett-housing-20120227
“As Buffett explains it, the housing market is currently depressed because young Americans have stayed at home rather than going out and setting up their own households.
“People may postpone hitching up during uncertain times, but eventually hormones take over,” Buffett wrote in the letter to shareholders in his investment company Berkshire Hathaway. “And while ‘doubling-up’ may be the initial reaction of some during a recession, living with in-laws can quickly lose its allure.”
That is not the entirety of his argument. He also says that currently home builders are not creating enough new supply. As a result the excess inventory that built up after the financial crisis is slowly disappearing, paving the way for new demand.”
Buffett out pumping real estate after buying Prudential. He is a shill
LMAO, after reading both the LAT & Bloomberg piece, clearly, Buffett is COMPLETELY out of touch with the real world. Sad really.
btw, considering his holdings, of course he doesn’t believe in any banking conspiracies. Sheesh, stop being so naive.
Have a nice weekend.
I think you have it backwards. He bought Prudential because he believed in real estate. Back near the peak, he was advising people to sell real estate and sold his house in Laguna Beach because it was overpriced.
matt.. spot-on!
It’s amazing how many people consider themselves smarter than Buffett, and yet have nothing to show for it.
Speaking of out of touch, I think your words speak for themselves:
el O says:
April 24, 2013 at 10:49 am
Dude, stop being so naieve.
If pure values have actually risen ”about 33% in the past 3 months”, inventory would not sit at record lows.
Silly MR, you’re so transparent… I never said I was smarter than Buffett, I said he was completely out of touch with reality(which he is). And, I don’t see where matt suggested he was smarter either, so knock-off the nonsense 😉
Buffett said that anyone who buys gold is a jerk.
MR – Didn’t you buy gold?
Buffet may believe in the banking conspiracy theory and yet be undeterred because he believes they will succeed in the end.
You seem determined to undermine the banking conspiracy theory. Why? It isn’t put out as disaster waiting to happen. While it’s possible lenders may change their policies, it isn’t very likely. Further, it’s hard to deny lenders changed their policies. There is a conspiracy. Whether it be forced by the government (your theory) or a willful choice and collusion (my theory), the results are the same. They made a change in policy that resulted in fewer foreclosures and less distressed inventory. It is what it is.
awgee-
I’ve never seen Buffett accuse somebody that buys gold of being a jerk. He does say that gold doesn’t make sense as an investment and you yourself have said that, so it would seem you two agree.
Opps, my bad. It was Charlie Munger, Buffett’s partner. Here is the whole quote I referred to, mistakenly;
“I don’t have the slightest interest in gold. I like working on understanding what works and what doesn’t in human systems. To me that is my…that’s not optional…that’s a moral obligation. If you’re capable of understanding the world, you have a moral obligation to become rational. I don’t see how you become rational hoarding gold. Even if it works you’re a jerk.”
Buffett and I not only seem to agree that gold does not make sense as in investment, we do agree.
Thanks for that quote. I had never seen that, and to be honest, don’t fully understand it.
“… he Cortezes paid off their loan three years early, Jose said, because they wanted that money to be used by Habitat to help other needy families….”
It’s good to hear that they are also thinking for the benefit of others.
Our regular liar loan plan was never intended to have the final borrow pay it off. Just have the federal govt bail it out or the sky will fall.
My hats off to the Cortez family. They are heroes. They do things the right way and they will be blessed and rewarded because of it. Despite the temptations to live profligately, I find these stories like theirs to be encouraging. Too bad Habitat for Humanity can only help so many people. I’ve worked on their projects and they really do what they say. For the rest of us who can’t get a hand-up from organizations like theirs, even those who earn a median or higher income, housing in coastal California is just ridiculously out-of-range. Unfortunately HFH is just trying to put band-aids on a larger systemic problem of affordable housing.
HFH is doing what is in their power — they can’t change the banking system nor the cartels. They only control their building and HFH loan programs. Making life better for one family at a time.
Yes. It would be nice if they could change the world, but they can change a little corner of it one family at a time.
I’m a big curmudgeon.
I see this and say the following. In today’s market that family was given an asset that would cost around 45k a year in pre tax dollars to take a mortgage out on. They paid some 8k per year for it and 31 weekends of volunteer work for it. Over the course of twenty years they were essentially handed three quarters of a million dollars in salary. They won the lottery, and became heroes. I wish I could be a hero like that!
The feel good aspect of this is that they want to give back, I would too! Oh, and they didn’t spend the house. . . Well then I’m a hero too! My family does charity work, and we won’t spend our house. It’s just we will pay the three quarters of a million to pay it off because we have the means to do so.
As I said, I’m a big curmudgeon. Mainly because I wish that I could win the lottery too! That said, much respect to this family for consolidating their gain and being financially responsible. If everyone would act that way we would have a much more stable economic environment.
I feel nothing but happiness for their good fortune. They did win the lottery, but they also made the most of it. They are great role models for the rest of us.
Everybody who helped this family through monetary donations to Habitat or time and work given, did so because they wanted to, not because they were taxed or forced to, so there is no reason to be resentful. I do not see this family as heroes, but I do see them as people who took their fishing lessons and made good with them.
I have worked for Habitat and as trite and cliche as it sounds, you get back way more than you put it.
I am curious as to how many people know what the US’s number one export is?
Entertainment?
Munitions/Armaments? Scrap metal & paper?